Jacöb Holting Nilsson and Elmer Andersson continue in great form on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour, and won, on Sunday, their second title and their third medal in their last four tournaments by triumphing in the Challenge event held in Baden.

The reigning U22 European champions led a podium that featured only teams from the continent in the Austrian city, standing taller than second-placed Germans Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler and third-placed French Rémi Bassereau and Calvin Aye in the awarding ceremony that concluded six days of action at the Thermalstrandbad Baden.

• Watch Beach Pro Tour Baden Challenge replays on VBTV

In the gold medal match, the 20-year-old Hölting Nilsson and the 19-year-old Andersson overcame their relative inexperience at the international level to dominate the Paris 2024 Olympic silver medalists and German veterans Ehlers and Wickler and triumph in straight sets (21-18, 21-16).

The teams had met last week, in the Round of 16 of the European Championship, and the Germans came out on top, winning in the tie-breaker.

“It was almost the same game plan, but we served better and had a stronger side out,” Andersson reflected. “We knew that was what we had to do, and we did it this time, which was great. It was really fun playing here, the fans supported every team.”

The Swedish, who won the title in Baden with an undefeated campaign of six victories and just two sets lost, are in great form on the Beach Pro Tour, having won gold at the Malmö Futures and silver at the Gstaad Elite within the last two months. The victory in Baden was the third obtained by Hölting Nilsson and Andersson at the Challenge level – they also won gold in Chennai and Nuvali in the 2024 season.

“We hope there’s more to come,” Hölting Nilsson said. “We try to get better every day and we’ll continue with that. Hopefully, there’s some more.”

French win their first medal

Bassereau and Aye, on the other hand, got to celebrate their first medal as partners on Sunday in Baden. The French joined forces near the end of the 2024 season and hadn’t made it past the quarterfinals in their first ten Beach Pro Tour events.

In order to make it to the podium in Austria, they took down American Olympians Chase Budinger and Miles Evans, winning the tournament’s bronze medal match in the tie-breaker (16-21, 21-17, 15-10).

“After losing the first set, we knew we had to change something or we’d go back home with nothing,” Bassereau said. “After having lost the semifinal in the tie-breaker, I think it took us a little while to recover both physically and mentally. Once we got back to hitting and jumping at our usual level, we’ve been able to bother them a little bit more.”

Earlier in the semifinals, Hölting Nilsson and Andersson swept (23-21, 21-13) Bassereau and Aye, while Ehlers and Wickler overcame Budinger and Evans in three sets (21-15, 18-21, 15-13).

Beach Pro Tour Baden Challenge – Results

The action on the Beach Pro Tour continues next week, when the Canadian city of Montreal hosts the sixth Elite event of the season. Matches will take place from Wednesday to Sunday.

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